Revitalized run game leads Temple to 41-9 victory

Written by: Tyler Blankenship

Photo by: Ikram Adam

Temple Football (2-1, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) has struggled to play a full four quarters of football all season. Today, the Owls Temple Owls played a complete game for the first time this season giving the team its their first 2-1 record since 2019. 

The Owls defeated the Norfolk State Spartans (1-2, 0-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) 41-9 Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field. Led by strong performances from freshman running back Joquez Smith and linebacker Diwun Black. 

Head coach Stan Drayton had mentioned earlier in the week that the Owls had yet to put together a complete game this season. This afternoon, the Owls put together a solid four quarters finding the consistency Drayton has been looking for.

“We haven’t gotten off to a good start all year,” said Drayton. “It was good to see them achieve that”

The ground game for the Owls gave Norfolk State’s defense fits all game. Smith dominated the game from the beginning rushing for 142 yards while scoring the first two touchdowns of his collegiate career. 

Smith managed to record a rushing and receiving touchdown on Saturday. Smith became the first player to score both in the air and on the ground since Re’Mahn Davis did in the 2019 season opener against Bucknell. 

“I think he is going to be a special player for us,” Drayton said. “He’s going to be our guy going forward.”

Running back Darvon Hubbard also had a good day, totaling 89 all-purpose yards and a touchdown. 

With the success of Temple’s run game, quarterback E.J. Warner took a backseat and managed the game. Warner put together a solid game performance finishing the game with in the air hitting multiple big pass plays including a thirty-yard pass to 238 passing yards and one touchdown. 

“It’s huge,” Warner said about the run game. “I think our run game is super important, they were killing it.” 

Temple’s defense shut down the Spartans’ only allowing 217 total yards and a season low nine points. The Owls recorded their 30th straight win when allowing less than 10 points in a game. 

Last week, the Owls’ linebackers struggled with gap discipline. Today the linebackers had a bounce-back performance.

”It was good to see that,” Drayton said. “I think we did it the right way more than we did not.”

Black made his presence felt today recording six tackles, three tackle for loss and one sack.

“He’s an animal,” said safety Tywan Francis. 

Linebacker Jordan Magee and Francis, who was again awarded a single digit this week, also had an impressive day combining for 13 tackles and one tackle for loss. 

Next week, the Owls face a tough opponent as the #22 Miami Hurricanes travel to South Philly Saturday, Sept. 23 at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2.